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The Cutting Onions Podcast

The Cutting Onions Podcast

By: Bobby Shaw
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On the Cutting Onions Podcast, restaurant executives Bobby Shaw and Myles Gift celebrate leaders and organizations that build strong people cultures that develop other leaders.

Bobby and Myles interview leaders who have built amazing cultures in their organizations through developing great leaders who produce amazing results, the right way.Copyright Bobby Shaw Art Cooking Economics Food & Wine Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Ep. 111 The Lost Art of Restaurant Orientation

    Ep. 111 The Lost Art of Restaurant Orientation
    Jun 26 2026
    On today’s episode of The Cutting Onions Podcast, Myles and I continue to the conversation about the basics of the business and talk about the lost art of restaurant orientations.
    This is a basic fundamental of the business that is crucial to having engaged, inspired, and excellent team members.
    Here is some of what we talked about in our conversation:
    • Technology (LMS, onboarding software) is a useful tool, but cannot replace human conversation, eye contact, and culture transfer
    • The industry has drifted toward mistaking the administrative package for a real orientation
    • Orientation is the first promise leadership makes to a new team member
    • Follow-up orientation is where you prove you meant it
    • Culture immersion starts in the interview process and continues through the orientation.
    Our challenge to you this week: Talk to your newest team member and ask these powerful questions:
    1. Is there anything we could have done differently to improve your onboarding?
    2. What was confusing or unclear?
    3. Who has helped you the most?
    This signals your openness to feedback early. Then pick one thing, fix it, and circle back to let them know you made the change.

    As Myles said, the orientation sets the tone for how the rest of the employment experience will go.
    Check out this conversation wherever you consume your podcast content!
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
  • 111. The Lost Art of Restaurant Orientation

    111. The Lost Art of Restaurant Orientation
    Jun 26 2026
    On today’s episode of The Cutting Onions Podcast, Myles and I continue to the conversation about the basics of the business and talk about the lost art of restaurant orientations.This is a basic fundamental of the business that is crucial to having engaged, inspired, and excellent team members.Here is some of what we talked about in our conversation:
    • Technology (LMS, onboarding software) is a useful tool, but cannot replace human conversation, eye contact, and culture transfer
    • The industry has drifted toward mistaking the administrative package for a real orientation
    • Orientation is the first promise leadership makes to a new team member
    • Follow-up orientation is where you prove you meant it
    • Culture immersion starts in the interview process and continues through the orientation.
    Our challenge to you this week: Talk to your newest team member and ask these powerful questions:
    1. Is there anything we could have done differently to make your onboarding better?
    2. What was confusing or unclear?
    3. Who has helped you the most?
    This signals your openness to feedback early. Then, pick one thing and fix it, and circle back to let them know you made the change.As Myles said, the orientation sets the tone for how the rest of the employment experience will go.Check out this conversation wherever you consume your podcast content!
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
  • Ep. 110 The Return of Operational Discipline

    Ep. 110 The Return of Operational Discipline
    Jun 11 2026
    Today on The Cutting Onions Podcast, Myles and I talk about the return of operational discipline.
    Here’s what we know:
    • Restaurants are entering a season where fundamentals matter more than ever.
    • Technology, AI, dashboards, kiosks, loyalty platforms, delivery, and automation are all useful tools, but they do not replace the discipline of running a great shift.
    • The winning operators will consistently execute labor, food cost, cleanliness, speed, hospitality, prep, manager presence, opening routines, closing routines, and daily communication.
    • Operational discipline is not old-school. It is the foundation that makes growth, hospitality, and technology actually work.
    The big question we ask is this…

    “Have we accidentally made restaurant leadership too complicated by chasing every new tool, trend, and technology — when what our teams really need first is clarity, standards, and a manager who is present?”

    Spoiler Alert: We don’t think so, but this is a good gut check for all leaders to make sure that we stay focused on the fundamentals.

    We can use technology as an accelerator to make us more efficient, but nothing will replace the basics. It can support what we do operationally, but it can’t replace what we do as leaders.

    All these years later, after leading hundreds of restaurants, we still believe some of the most important leadership lessons are hiding inside those basic routines.

    We hope you enjoy this episode! You can listen in wherever you consume your podcast content.
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
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